Gustavo Poyet wants Sunderland to make fellow strugglers sweat

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They have felt it themselves often enough this season, but perhaps Sunderland are now in a position to spread a little fear. While they remain fixed to the foot of the Barclays Premier League and their own form has been unreliable, a run of one defeat in their past eight matches in all competitions has persuaded Gustavo Poyet their outlook can improve.

Given that their single loss in that spell, at home to Aston Villa on New Year’s Day, was so miserable that it persuaded Poyet to concede that his side “miss [the] quality to play at this level”, the